Black Mirror: Fifteen Million Merits, an analysis of Bing's speech

Black Mirror is a anthology series that manly focuses on possible futures that could come from the overuse of technology. Each episode features a different setting with a different take on the future, most often being extremely bleak and depressing. One of the most noteworthy episodes is Season 1 Episode 2: Fifteen Million Merits.

Fifteen Million Merits takes place in a mysterious future where almost every character seen is forced to peddle on bikes to earn merit points, all for an unknown reason. The episode follows one of these peddlers, a man named Bing who has inherited an extremely high amount of merits after his brother died. The only goal for the peddlers is to raise fifteen million merit points so that they may preform on the reality show "Hot-Shots" and become a celebrity.

Bing gives his merits to the woman she loves so she can pursue he dreams of becoming a singer. When the woman is pressured into becoming a pornstar, Bing sees his world fall apart. Questioning his futile existence, he saves up until he can get back onto the show and gives a speech in front of the whole world, a glass shard at his throat, threatening to kill himself if someone attempts to silence him.

Bing's speech is interesting to say the least, and is one of the most iconic moments in the entire episode. Bing questions the entirety of his existence and takes out his rage against the highest powers in his life, the three judges of Hot Shots. Bing points out how focused on materialistic value the people in his world are. 

"All we know is fake fun and buying shit! It's how we speak to eachother, it's how we express ourselves is buying shit! I have a dream? The peak of our dreams is a new hat for our doppel!"

Many of the themes in the episode reflect our real society, including the obsession with buying and consuming things with little to no meaning. He also points out how cruelly we laugh at people who are overweight or considered useless to society. He questions what is even the point of all the riding when he asks aloud: "We ride day in, day out! Going where!? Powering what!?" Bing is the only character in the episode to question his pitiful existence as a biker

      At the end of Bing's speech, spilling out all his feelings in front of the whole world, he is almost treated like a joke. He is persuaded by one of the judges into having his own television program for all the bikers to see. One of the bikers is even seen with his glass shard. His speech became an icon but also something that normal people joke about, leaving all of his efforts in vain. It shows how quick people are to write off serious topics or follow large media stars, tempted into following a mob mentality and ignoring people who try their hardest to preach the truth.